-Goldman Sachs raises third quarter GDP tracking estimate to 2 per cent
-Spanish central bank head sees small risk of not meeting 2013 deficit targets

Dow Jones Industrial: 0.58%
Nasdaq Comp.: 0.22%
S&P 500: 0.62%

The main Wall Street indices are now registering modest gains. This ahead of tomorrow's monthly employment report and following "as-expected" policy decisions, this afternoon, from the Bank of England (BoE) and the European Central Bank (ECB).

As regards the ECB, the most important of the two, the monetary authority indicated that the euro "is irreversible" while at the same time calling on governments to act by saying that matters were now largely in their hands.

Investors are also expectant ahead of the release, this evening, of the minutes of the Fed's last policy meeting.

By sectors Financials and Energy are in the lead on the S&P 500 while out on the broader markets the best performers now are: Coal (4.98%), Platinum (3.61%) and Mortgage Finance (3.49%).

Retailers are also doing well after data showed that September like-for-like sales came in ahead of estimates.

Sprint Nextel is reportedly in the early stages of evaluating whether it should make a counter offer for MetroPCS Communications to top Deutsche Telekom AG's bid to combine it with T-Mobile USA, said three people familiar with the offer.

'In-line' macro data

Initial jobless claims rose by 4,000 last week to 367,000 (Consensus: 370,000), up from an upwardly revised 363,000 the week before (Preliminary: 359,000). The four-week moving average held steady at 375,000.

"The fact that claims were more or less steady leads us to believe that the special factors surrounding Tropical Storm Isaac that propelled jobless claim applications higher during the weeks ending September 8 and 15 have passed through the data. Excluding these weeks, jobless claims data show little momentum in either direction and continue to signal that labor market conditions have been broadly unchanged in recent months," said analyst Michael Gapen from Barclays Research.

All eyes will now be on tomorrow's monthly jobs report from the Labor Department. Non-farm payrolls are expected to have increased by 111,000 last month, up from the previous gain of 96,000. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is forecast to rise to 8.2% from 8.1%.

Factory orders fell at a 5.2 month-on-month clip in August (Consensus: -5.8%).

Energy quotes bounce back sharply10 year US Treasuries are now falling by 12/32 dollars, with yields at 1.65%.

Front month West Texas crude futures are moving higher by 3.86%, to 91.54 dollars on the NYMEX. Of interest, futures are now at technical support.



AB

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